BLOGS, LINKS, STORIES AND ARTICLES
BLOGS, LINKS, STORIES AND ARTICLES
An ongoing series of informational entries
An ongoing series of informational entries
The Colour of Fairness
The Colour of Fairness
And injuries caused by those prejudiced-packed punches
by Real And Wise
A Piscean, Centennial baby giving ‘real and wise’ opinions about all things personal, spiritual, and philosophical including anti-black racism and mental health
If someone asked me to describe an experience where I believed I’d been treated unfairly, I’d try to make it a teachable, emotional-quotient (EQ) moment by conveying the mood and transmitting the feelings connected to the occurrence.
So, let us begin with my description.
What Does Unfairness Feel Like?
You’re going about your day, minding your business when someone randomly punches you smack dab in the middle of your stomach.
Out of nowhere.
You’re defenseless to the unexpected assault.
Doubled-over in pain.
Now, hold the intensity of that episode in your mind.
Add onto that sensation there’s no acknowledgment from the perpetrator about your welfare.
And no apology was offered to you from the perpetrator for their nonsensical abuse.
You might even be shocked by their callous behavior!
But remember, act as if nothing happened.
Just continue on with whatever you were doing.
Before their random knock came and disrupted your life.
When things appear out of order to me an alarm bell goes off.
PING!
Eew weee!
Something’s starting to smell stinky!
One such incident happened years ago en route back from a grad school residency on the VIA train traveling to Toronto from Montreal.
The conductor, who had more pepper than salt-colored hair, asked for my ticket.
I gave it to him and he requested to see my ISIC (International Student Identity Card).
I showed it.
He motioned the teen-age girl beside me, who was the color of coffee with double cream, for her ticket. Then he asked to see her ISIC. She took it out and handed it to him.
Across the aisle and one row behind us, a white girl (wg) in her early twenties was seated beside an early twenties white dude (wd). The conductor took both of their tickets and had already walked a couple of feet down the aisle when the wg called out to him…“don’t you want to see my ISIC?”
He yelled back, “No, it’s okay. You look honest”.
The wg and the wd laughed!
PING!
Here we go!!
The conductor’s remark triggered that innate warning signal.
Again.
I could detect his “my tinky don’t stinky” superiority attitude!
My seatmate and I were the only two people of color in that train car.
And, he’d thoroughly inspected both of our ISICs.
What would’ve happened if we didn’t have our cards or we refused to show them to him?
“As if”!
You better believe a kerfuffle would’ve taken place.
We, People of Colour (POC) particularly black folks, don’t have the privilege to pull stunts like that.
Imaginary or otherwise.
In a black and white image, a fair-skinned woman, wearing a wedding ring, is holding the top of her exposed stomach with her left hand. The words OUT OF ORDER are written on the right side of her navel. Her right hand is clutching the waist-band of her yoga-pants.
Image by Kat Smith. Pexels
Most of us get the “memo” earlier on in life about the snubs.
As our young psyches get battered, we’re unconsciously and simultaneously being conditioned to believe that our feelings don’t matter.
There are several cases currently in the media with videos showing African-American children at theme parks ignored by people donning character costumes.
What could have been memorable, fun experiences in “safe” spaces became encounters for civil lawsuits?
This type of unfairness is nothing new.
It’s modern technology that’s allowing unsavory conduct to be captured in progress.
Survival Mode
On The Association of Black Psychologists' website in ‘Responding to Racial Trauma 101’, it states:
Racial trauma is the stressful impact or emotional pain of one’s experience with racism and discrimination. Additionally, racial trauma may or may not be linked to a specific event but can be experienced in the racism and discrimination one may face in daily living.
I’d started getting worked up from my observation and voiced what I’d deduced to my seatmate. She hadn’t caught on to what the conductor had passive-aggressively implied.
Maybe she didn’t want to catch it?
Denial is a common defense mechanism to dull those racist blows.
It was imperative for the conductor to see our cards.
He told the wg she “looked honest”.
Hmm.
Must have been that blonde hair of hers.
Don’t fair-haired maidens possess qualities of truth, wholesomeness, and goodness?
Isn’t this the propaganda Renaissance painters projected to most of the world for centuries?
It’s part of the social programming about color hidden in plain sight.
Black-balled. Black-listed. White lies.
Innercity is code for a poor, brown, or black neighborhood.
Phraseology was created to denote white is right.
Countless people are still unaware of the invention of White People.
Stories for other days!
Debriefing
When I got home I phoned my cousin to discuss what happened.
She said, “you must’ve been in a good mood that day ’cause you kept quiet”.
I’d considered writing a letter to customer service to complain about the conductor’s comment but decided against it since I’d been away for 10 days and needed to conserve my energy to tend to my daughter.
Sometimes, POC has to choose their battles.
Besides, I knew the physical bruise left from the punch would eventually diminish.
They always do.
Introspective Bias
Introspective Bias
Insourcing and outsourcing your own implicit racial bias
By Doubbleconsciousness (2 b's)
By Doubbleconsciousness (2 b's)
I'm a paragraph. Click once to begin entering your own content. You can change my font, size, line height, color and more by highlighting part of me and selecting the options from the toolbar.
I'm a paragraph. Click once to begin entering your own content. You can change my font, size, line height, color and more by highlighting part of me and selecting the options from the toolbar.
I'm a paragraph. Click once to begin entering your own content. You can change my font, size, line height, color and more by highlighting part of me and selecting the options from the toolbar.
4 questions to true introspection as you outsource or insource your own implicit racial bias
1. Can You Spot Implicit Racial Bias In yourself?
2. Whether it’s yes or no, what would you like to do about it?
3. Can you spot Implicit Racial Bias in others?
4. Whether it’s yes or no, what would you like to do about it?
Won’t you contemplate that for a moment? Please leave a comment I would love to hear your thoughts if you can share!
Insourcing of Implicit Racial Bias In an organization may look like this —
Let’s get this very educated yet somewhat assimilated BIPOC individual to head the BIPOC committee or subdepartment — then let’s get another fabulous and educated BIPOC individual to govern over the DEI committee — WOW! Progress. “It seems to me, that the people doing the insourcing claiming to circumvent implicit racial bias — may be biased!! Can this perpetuate the internal oppression of BIPOC” (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)”
Perhaps, because here comes a lot more work, a lot more stress. These people have to work harder and many times without more pay. Though they are working so many more hours. Here comes a lot more responsibility, and of course, all you have to do is prove yourself. Prove that you ‘got it’ — The mandate, of course, the color or lack thereof, whatever the case may be. BIPOC comes in diverse colors and sadly whoever appears suitable for this new and strategic insourcing are the lucky ones that get the job. It’s whoever can ‘Toe the line’. That may be a bit too judgemental. What do you think? — Who, for the most part, ends up fighting for Rights and the dismantling of racism?
Excerpt from Adia Harvey Wingfield
What happens when a company says it values diversity but doesn’t do the work needed to live up to that value?
Employees of color might end up doing that work without pay — something Adia Harvey Wingfield calls “racial outsourcing.” Wingfield, a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, coined the term to describe a phenomenon she says is becoming more prevalent in today’s economy.
Who Is Really USED to dismantle racism?
Those that are the recipients of it — BIPOC individuals, of course. Black professionals at the top of their game are strategically positioned in organizations with the responsibility of dismantling and untangling racism. I’m referring, not only to the actual labor — The Work?!..but to the emotional and psychological work as well. The internalized oppressive ‘work’ that the dominant group may be somewhat inept to factor in because of an acute unawareness when it comes to BIPOC people. Who is really on the Front Line?
In all fairness, we are not in each other’s skin! Metaphorically, literally, or otherwise as nations and groups of people. However, I am aware that those under the umbrella of whiteness, especially after Bacon’s rebellion 1676–1677 have inherently been reciprocal of some multigenerational and intergenerational clout when it comes to areas of political and socio-economical privilege.
There are many white people — excuse the bi-word — on the front line that are humble enough to know, that the ‘ally’ word can be pretty controversial and that the term ally does not imply that because they are white they don’t need to do any introspective work. In fact, I quote Emma Dabiri’s book, What White People Can Do Next. “One of the things that allyship fails to address is the fact that you can continue to view black people as inferior while still being committed to their ‘protection.”
We can still believe groups of people are inferior but be committed to protecting them. Yes, Unfortunately, people that should be solely fighting for the Rights of their families and communities are being used or insourced to dismantle a system they did not create. So if they didn’t create it, How familiar would they really be with the apparatus and the structural integrity of that system??
Many non-whites, scholastically sound, have indeed studied the system and know its barriers, and the intricacies of the so-called dominant systemic mindset. Many are fighting persistently for rights, freedoms, and liberties just like it was ‘back in the day’. It’s a different fight today, isn’t it? Morphing through times, ancestors, and generations.
Photo by Miltiadis Fragkidis on Unsplash
Ancestors could see their chains they could clearly hear and feel the hatred as the word Nigger, Boy, Coon, Ape, Monkey, Wench, Hoar, Bitch, seemed to bludgeon their psyche. On and on this learning theory permeating through the generations manifested itself as they were told how to think of themselves. Tortured and dehumanized over and over for hundreds of years.
Please be conscientious as to how you use the word resilience. Resilience is exhausting. This psychological warfare still continues today. A black gentleman in one of my trainings said it is our position as BIPOC individuals to Fight for our Rights. He continued to say it is not our responsibility to dismantle racism. Be that as it may, racism, bias, antioppression — all of it has been outsourced, insourced, redirected, sidestepped…
NEWS FLASH — Fighting for rights for our families and our children over hundreds of years also means fighting for our minds. This work is almost impossible work on your own but together we are…AMAZING!
Where does the introspection come in? — Look in the Mirror!!
If one could soul search as they look in the mirror. Looking…looking some more and inspecting every detail, like we would when we are dressed and ready to leave for a party, a gathering, a wedding, etc. You are almost late but you rush back to that mirror to take a last look. The back the sides, your bottom, your stomach…how does it all look? Then you make a dash for the door —
What self-analysis and introspection it might take if we were to STOP and look in that mirror more often. Yes you weren’t there hundreds of years ago nor was I, but the dominant construct that we are in today, serves to benefit some groups of people insurmountably from residual benefits and privileges passed on through time. Totally get it!
We all take things for granted, the human mammals that we are, especially if it was passed to us in an intergenerational way. Behaviors, Economics, Bias, Academics, Politics, Socially…and so on. It’s not your fault or mine but together we can do something about it.
Insourcing of Implicit Bias —Could It Look Like This?
When we allow the insourcing of Black, Indigenous peoples, and people of color — who can’t always see the manipulation and the subtle dehumanization.
In all fairness, it is hard for people of some dominance and generational affluence (of course this is not necessarily about money per se) to really become aware of their unawareness of this topic. They simply don’t have to foster that kind of awareness. If you are in a construct that predominantly caters to whiteness, where the words, supremacy, and privilege are used to describe and identify, there is an inadvertent understanding of predominance.
The North American construct most people live in does not call for that kind of effort. It doesn’t seem to be necessary at all via the fundamentals of our school curriculum either. So people may remain unaware of their unawareness. Not at all aware that they are unaware.
Like when they are in cultural sensitivity training. I personally get very sensitive sometimes on the behalf of others in these trainings because it is genuinely difficult for some to grapple with biases. Things they may be unaware of. It can actually be very overwhelming when this is disturbed or rattled via antioppression/antibias type training.
When the “what you don’t know whon’t hurt you” mentality is disturbed. People feel hurt, discomfort, and the onset of some real trauma. We were all duped when it comes to the whole truth and nothing but the truth in History class. People didn’t receive the real history of their people and especially BIPOC people, in school. They may now be faced with the inaccurateness or incompleteness of what they thought they knew as well as the history they were never privy to.
7 Things people May Say that identify whether they are Insourcing or Outsourcing their own Implicit Racial Bias
Insourcing
* “I’ve got black friends, I care so much and I know a lot.”
* “Oh — my wife is black and I have mixed-race kids…I’m saturated with culture every day!”
* “I took an anti-oppression, anti-bias training years ago — I’m good!”
* “It’s about respect, I treat all people with respect”
* “I’m an ally, a well know activist and I feel so good speaking on behalf of these people”
* “I love Caribbean food, the music, the culture — Wow!”
* "I’m very conscientious about dropping a couple of dollars when I see a homeless person begging.”
Note: This type of insourcing means — I’ve got it! I’m doing the work or I’ve done the work. You have done enough introspection on the plight of those that have been dehumanized, minimized, villainized and you are done — you took the one-day training and you’re good to go!
Outsourcing
* Let the other people that have bias deal with it. I’m in full support of that.
* They’ve built a lot of churches and schools in these countries. What’s wrong with these people
* A lot of people adopt Korean children, Chinese children, and black children —and they have assimilated very well.
* Those people just have to get up and get a job. Pull up themselves by their bootstraps. Enough of this nonsense!
* We have a cultural and an equity audit every year. We sure put a lot of money into it.
Note: This type of outsourcing means — Everyone else has done the work. You benefit vicariously. The world will be a better place. You have outsourced your introspection (which could mean — Lots of people have done the work and I will continue to help them do it)
Whether you are Insourcing or Outsourcing your Implicit Racial Bias. Keep your Introspection intact — your soul searching. Analyze your thoughts and feelings a bit. It doesn’t have to be philosophically and psychologically dense. It can be as simple as reaching out to a friend you’ve had for years in the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People Of Colour) community and being humble and authentic enough to learn, and ask some caring questions. Remain patient if they are tired and don’t want to teach. Sometimes it feels that way. It just gets tiring. Find out why and be humble enough to learn, even from their exhaustion. I’m so glad you could drop by.
Doubbleconsciousness (2 b's)
Writer, Cultural Sensitivity & Awareness Trainer/Certified Life Coach/Video Podcaster. Free offers for you to check out here: https://doubbleconsciousness.com/of
University of Life
by Sa Ra
Know and innerstand that it is not for us to interfere with the free will choices of others. Realize that each of us has been assigned our own specific curriculum for the University of Life. Each of us is responsible for learning and graduating through our individual lessons and advancing through different levels of knowledge and awareness. Know that every one is not at the same level, nor do we learn at the same pace or do we learn the same way. Let us not question or criticize others for where they are, but let us focus on our Spiritual development and advancement. Sa Ra
University of Life
by Sa Ra
Know and innerstand that it is not for us to interfere with the free will choices of others. Realize that each of us has been assigned our own specific curriculum for the University of Life. Each of us is responsible for learning and graduating through our individual lessons and advancing through different levels of knowledge and awareness. Know that every one is not at the same level, nor do we learn at the same pace or do we learn the same way. Let us not question or criticize others for where they are, but let us focus on our Spiritual development and advancement. Sa Ra
Energetic Boundaries
Khadijah Auckbaraullee
This post goes very well with my write up I posted a few days ago. Energetic boundaries and Energy hygiene is key. Empaths often have a hard time with this. Over-empathizing and over-sympathizing with people will drain you & can lead to you becoming very sick.
I’ve lived this, so I speak from experience. We especially cannot support those who clearly have 0 intention of helping themselves & are adamant at always being a victim.
It is not our responsibility to fix anyone or heal anyone. We can support people, but they must also want to help themselves & change their own lives.
We aren’t anyone's savior.
We aren’t anyone's martyr.
We each have a responsibility to heal, change & grow ourselves.
Protect yourselves by surrounding yourself around people who also care to heal & grow & try to live in higher integrity.
Energetic Boundaries
Khadijah Auckbaraullee
This post goes very well with my write up I posted a few days ago. Energetic boundaries and Energy hygiene is key. Empaths often have a hard time with this. Over-empathizing and over-sympathizing with people will drain you & can lead to you becoming very sick.
I’ve lived this, so I speak from experience. We especially cannot support those who clearly have 0 intention of helping themselves & are adamant at always being a victim.
It is not our responsibility to fix anyone or heal anyone. We can support people, but they must also want to help themselves & change their own lives.
We aren’t anyone's savior.
We aren’t anyone's martyr.
We each have a responsibility to heal, change & grow ourselves.
Protect yourselves by surrounding yourself around people who also care to heal & grow & try to live in higher integrity.
We, The 99% Need To Ramp Things Up
by Real And Wise
To piggyback on my last post, instead of airing his family’s dirty laundry, Haz could use his platform to address more important and, relevant issues.
For instance, providing behind-the-scenes confessions from others with limitless wealth, such as the Corporatocracy’s one percent and the MotherWEFer’s, who want most of us dead.
We can surmise that Haz has cache with the one percent and has been in the company of at least one or several of them and the MotherWEFers.
His uncle Andrew and Bill Gates were associated with Epstein’s pedophile island.
Perhaps some of us would be interested in learning more about what other schemes they’re all up to since the one-percenters and MotherWEFers are inextricably linked.
I refuse to call Haz or his uncle a royal title because, in my mind, their family represents the icky residue left over from the era of inane subjugation.
What we should know thus far is that we’re the bricks and beams supporting the Establishment’s shoddy foundation.
With Transhumanism on their horizon, MotherWEFers intends to keep a few of us around to perform tasks that are not assigned to artificial intelligence.
Listen closely to the GATES of HELL.
THEY don’t care about us.
If you think THEY do, keep drinking that kool-aid.
Dust off that copy of George Orwell’s 1984. Read it again.
The surveillance state is here.
They need to know everything about US because total compliance from US is their end game.
They have failed to acknowledge that we are sovereign beings.
Faith and love are going to win over fear-based, divide-and-conquer tactics that have been running the show on the planet since history has been recorded.
Is anyone else tired of exploitation?
The MotherWEFer mob intentionally wants us to be in a constant state of divisiveness and chaos.
If we’re consumed with wondering what pronouns to use like “theyby” instead of using the gender that a baby has been assigned by nature at birth, we will not have time to minimize and end our dependence on their corporatocracy.
Vanguard, Blackrock, Monsanto, Bayer, Merck, and Pfizer to name a few.
The Corporatocracy has also manipulated our relationship with what we eat by making us dependent on mass-produced, fake food.
Many people can’t distinguish between real and genetically-modified fruits and vegetables.
Gaia’s, also known as Mother Nature, usually contains seeds.
Growing our own food in community gardens and participating in urban indoor or outdoor planting to revitalize and create alternative systems are ways to defend ourselves against political powers.
We’ve been led to believe that we are separated from the Earth, the rest of its creatures, and each other. However, it’s our connectedness to food, water, and other humans, which are vital currencies that help sustain our lives.
In fact, we need each other more than ever before.
As a collective, the majority in the West can withhold spending dollars from the corporatocracy’s supply chains by creating a new consumer cultural movement.
Between trading, bartering, supporting local, mom & pops, neighbors, artisans, flea-markets, swap meets, Farmer’s Markets, garage sales, Craigslist, Kijiji, DIYs, etc.- there are plenty of alternatives to get what we need to be comfortable, and still buy “new” and enjoy a healthier quality of life.
If we make a concerted effort to stop buying their crap, we can affect their agenda.
This means that if you can avoid putting gas into your car, do so.
Ride a bike, walk, or take public transit. If it’s absolutely unpreventable to drive, organize carpools, or ride shares.
Thus, by mobilizing within our communities and networks, we can throw more wrenches into their already thwarted plans.
The cosmos signals a lane change.
Together, we the 99 percenters can finally move away from the mess of 1%.
We’re smarter than the MotherWEFers gives us credit for.
The ultimate goal is to transcend capitalism and other long-time “isms” plaguing us as control mechanisms.
Call to Action
Spread the word!
RAW 2023
We, The 99% Need To Ramp Things Up
by Real And Wise
To piggyback on my last post, instead of airing his family’s dirty laundry, Haz could use his platform to address more important and, relevant issues.
For instance, providing behind-the-scenes confessions from others with limitless wealth, such as the Corporatocracy’s one percent and the MotherWEFer’s, who want most of us dead.
We can surmise that Haz has cache with the one percent and has been in the company of at least one or several of them and the MotherWEFers.
His uncle Andrew and Bill Gates were associated with Epstein’s pedophile island.
Perhaps some of us would be interested in learning more about what other schemes they’re all up to since the one-percenters and MotherWEFers are inextricably linked.
I refuse to call Haz or his uncle a royal title because, in my mind, their family represents the icky residue left over from the era of inane subjugation.
What we should know thus far is that we’re the bricks and beams supporting the Establishment’s shoddy foundation.
With Transhumanism on their horizon, MotherWEFers intends to keep a few of us around to perform tasks that are not assigned to artificial intelligence.
Listen closely to the GATES of HELL.
THEY don’t care about us.
If you think THEY do, keep drinking that kool-aid.
Dust off that copy of George Orwell’s 1984. Read it again.
The surveillance state is here.
They need to know everything about US because total compliance from US is their end game.
They have failed to acknowledge that we are sovereign beings.
Faith and love are going to win over fear-based, divide-and-conquer tactics that have been running the show on the planet since history has been recorded.
Is anyone else tired of exploitation?
The MotherWEFer mob intentionally wants us to be in a constant state of divisiveness and chaos.
If we’re consumed with wondering what pronouns to use like “theyby” instead of using the gender that a baby has been assigned by nature at birth, we will not have time to minimize and end our dependence on their corporatocracy.
Vanguard, Blackrock, Monsanto, Bayer, Merck, and Pfizer to name a few.
The Corporatocracy has also manipulated our relationship with what we eat by making us dependent on mass-produced, fake food.
Many people can’t distinguish between real and genetically-modified fruits and vegetables.
Gaia’s, also known as Mother Nature, usually contains seeds.
Growing our own food in community gardens and participating in urban indoor or outdoor planting to revitalize and create alternative systems are ways to defend ourselves against political powers.
We’ve been led to believe that we are separated from the Earth, the rest of its creatures, and each other. However, it’s our connectedness to food, water, and other humans, which are vital currencies that help sustain our lives.
In fact, we need each other more than ever before.
As a collective, the majority in the West can withhold spending dollars from the corporatocracy’s supply chains by creating a new consumer cultural movement.
Between trading, bartering, supporting local, mom & pops, neighbors, artisans, flea-markets, swap meets, Farmer’s Markets, garage sales, Craigslist, Kijiji, DIYs, etc.- there are plenty of alternatives to get what we need to be comfortable, and still buy “new” and enjoy a healthier quality of life.
If we make a concerted effort to stop buying their crap, we can affect their agenda.
This means that if you can avoid putting gas into your car, do so.
Ride a bike, walk, or take public transit. If it’s absolutely unpreventable to drive, organize carpools, or ride shares.
Thus, by mobilizing within our communities and networks, we can throw more wrenches into their already thwarted plans.
The cosmos signals a lane change.
Together, we the 99 percenters can finally move away from the mess of 1%.
We’re smarter than the MotherWEFers gives us credit for.
The ultimate goal is to transcend capitalism and other long-time “isms” plaguing us as control mechanisms.
Call to Action
Spread the word!
RAW 2023